Introduction to the special issue on policy-oriented research: Enhancing the relevancy of educational psychology to policy

In this introduction, we contextualize the contribution of this special issue by addressing several key questions that have repeatedly emerged over time. First, what is educational policy? Over time, many educational psychologists have asked us "what is education policy?" and "how can I think about it in my work?" Although this article cannot provide every possible incantation of what this looks like in one's work, we provide some initial thoughts here that we hope will help readers get started. Following these initial thoughts, we consider the question of why educational policy has been largely absent from educational psychology scholarship. This is followed by a brief discussion on why we think the time is ripe for educational psychologists to consider education policy in their work. Next, we provide a few preliminary ideas for how educational psychologists may engage in more policy-oriented aims. And finally, we provide some thoughts on the relevance of educational psychology theories for understanding the role, influence, and effects of policies on educational practices. We end with an overview of the contributions to this special issue.